USMC: A Question of Shame or Honor

The recent release of a video of Marines urinating on the enemy dead has brought about numerous comments in the mainstream media, here on MMA, local newspapers, and probably in barber shops around the country about what, if anything, should be done to the four Marines involved.

As a former Marine (there is no such thing as an ex-Marine unless you are kicked out of the Corps) I thought I would weigh in on this subject. Granted that my perspective comes from what is known as the “old Corps” since I was in the Marines from 1961 through 1965 which was during the early Vietnam era, and there may be some changes since then, but I don’t think they would be substantially different.

When I joined the Marines I was like most other kids who show up at recruit training, scared out of my mind for the first four or five weeks of basic training. When I got over that and began to learn the Marine Corps’ way I had it drilled into me that one did not dishonor the Corps, his uniform, or his Country in any shape form or fashion. Later in my expeditions with my unit within this country or in another country we were reminded that we represented our country and the Corps and anything unbecoming would be dealt with in an unkind fashion, to put it mildly.

With that being said, we were not angels and there were probably many times that things probably would have been viewed unbecoming depending who knew about them. But we knew we had to take care of each other and certainly did not brag about it or video it for the whole damn world to see.

Nineteen and twenty year old males who have been taught that they were indestructible and allegedly the baddest things that walked the face of the earth do tend to do stupid things that they did not want their superiors to know about. But there was also a great sense of pride, at least in my unit and the others I was around, in being a United States Marine and would never have included what I viewed on that video.

As a Marine I find what those Marines did abhorrent and most likely a violation of any number of articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and probably a violation of the Geneva Conventions. In this regard they should be dealt with by the military as they see fit. I also think that the one who came up with the bright idea of videoing the event should be shot for stupidity to make sure he doesn’t breed that much stupidity back into the population. In every war that has been fought there have been atrocities committed on both sides, most of which are probably much worse than this. Americans during WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and in Afghanistan have mishandled and mistreated enemy troops just as they have mistreated ours.

The vast majority of the time it is in the heat of combat and not a calculated action. Wars are not pretty or neat or well scripted. They are nasty, bloody, mind altering cluster fucks that tend to happen because political assholes are trying to make an idiotic point. This is especially true right now in Afghanistan when we are basically telling the enemy that we are getting the hell out of there which is telling the troops that what they are doing doesn’t really matter anyway. It pretty well screws with one’s mind.

However, and this is a damn big however, the Marine Corps has ALWAYS been totally volunteer. No one made you join. If you can’t take it, KEEP YOUR SORRY ASS AT HOME AND DON’T FUCK UP MY MARINE CORPS. Otherwise, HONOR YOUR COUNTRY, THE CORPS, AND THE GLOBE AND ANCHOR YOU WEAR

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